


The Christmas Collab

by hermioneg1127



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: F/F, F/M, Rofiya, Strangers to Lovers, not actually gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-04 16:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15844935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermioneg1127/pseuds/hermioneg1127
Summary: "Hi, my name is Rosanna. My friends call me Ro.""Hey, I’m Safiya. My friends call me Saf”———————When Rosanna meets Safiya at Joey's Christmas party, they agree to do a collaboration. There's only one small, tiny problem, Safiya is a big flirt. And Rosanna doesn’t know what to make of it.





	1. It Was My Gift

Rosanna looked in the mirror and checked her outfit. She decided to wear her  
maroon sweater with black shorts and knee high black boots. She had a Christmas party to go to. It was the one Joey threw every year.

"Hey Mike! Are you ready?" She shouted down the stairs. She invited her best friend Mike Lamond to come with her. Rosanna knew her brother MatPat and his wife Stephanie would be there, but she didn’t think she would know anyone else.

"Yeah. Ready when you are." He shouted back up. Rosanna checked the mirror one more time and then grabbed her purse. She came downstairs and pet Cookie, her french bull dog. "I’m driving right?" Mike asked. He came out of the kitchen with the keys.

"Yeah. Did you get a present for the White Elephant?" Rosanna had hers on the coffee table.

"Oh shoot! I forgot about that. I just won’t play." Mike grabbed her present and they headed to the car. They pulled out of the driveway and were on their way to Joey's house.

—————————————————

Safiya was wearing her black Morticia style shirt with black jeans. She but on black sneakers and then came out of her room.

"What do you think?" She asked her friend Tyler.

"Are you seriously wearing all black to a Christmas party?" He looked up from playing with Crusty, Safiya's cat. 

"What's wrong with that?" She asked. She did realize it’s a Christmas party, but she just liked the color black.

"It’s Christmas. Wear some color for once." She rolled her eyes and went back to her room. She grabbed a Christmas sweater and changed. 

"That's better." He said. Safiya grabbed her present and they headed to the car. This was her first year being invited to Joey's Christmas party. She was hoping to meet other YouTubers that she could collab with. 

—————————————————

Rosanna and Mike finally arrived at Joey's house. Mike went off to find some of his friends and Rosanna went to find MatPat and Stephanie.

"Hey guys." She said when she found them. They were just standing by the kitchen counter and talking to Joey.

"Hey Ro!" Joey exchanged his good byes with the others and left to mingle with other people.

"So, how have you been?" MatPat asked.

"You just saw me like a week ago. But I’m fine." Rosanna let out a chuckle.

"I know. I just like to know you're ok." Matt pulled his sister into a hug. 

"How are you doing Steph?" Rosanna asked. She was one of the only people who knew Stephanie was pregnant.

"I’m doing great actually. I've only had a few symptoms so far, but otherwise it’s fine. The baby is completely healthy right now." Steph unconsciously rubbed her stomach.

"I’m so happy that get to be an aunt. Do you know the gender yet?"

"It’s going to be a boy!" Steph whispered excitedly. "We're planning on telling everyone tonight."

"Really? That’s so exciting!" Matt leaned over and gave Steph a kiss.

"So Ro, do you have a significant other yet? You walked in with a guy." Steph asked. 

"No, that’s just my friend Mike. He’s not my boyfriend." They we’re talking for a little bit when Joey called everyone to come over to start the White Elephant. 

"Ok everyone, I've got a bowl of numbers and whoever brought a gift needs to pick one." The doorbell rang. "Looks like someone was a bit late. Hold on." He went over to the door and greeted Safiya and Tyler. Joey put their gift in front of the tree and wrote an extra number and put it in the bowl. Everyone picked their numbers.

"Hey Matt, who is that?" Rosanna asked. She didn’t recognize the girl that came in late, but she was... interesting.

"Her name's Safiya I think. She used to work at Buzzfeed but made her own channel. She's quite popular actually. Why?"

"I just wanted to know." They dropped it there. 

"So, who has 1?"

—————————————————

The game was going on for little bit, and then it was Safiya's turn. She was one of the last people to go. She picked a small box and when she opened it, it was a Crystal Wolf necklace. 

"Thanks Joey. And I’ll keep it." She knew it was Joey. After all, it was his merch. 

"That wasn’t me." Joey said. "I didn’t want to do my own merch." 

"Then who did?" No one claimed that it was their gift. 'Weird.' She walked back over to Tyler and he looked at the necklace. The game finished after the first person, Nikita Dragun, decided to keep what she had gotten originally. People got up to mingle.

"Hey Ro?" Steph looked at Rosanna confused. "Wasn't that your gift? The one that no one said was theirs?"

"Yeah. It was. I don’t know why I didn’t say anything." Rosanna couldn’t think of a real reason why. She looked over at the girl.

"Well go talk to her." Steph told her. Rosanna got up and walked over.

—————————————————

"Can you help me put this on?" Safiya asked Tyler. She lifted her hair up and he closed it around her neck. "Thanks."

"No problem. So, are you going to talk to anyone here? It is a party." Tyler looked at her that said _make some friends._

"I'd rather not." 

"Well, I don’t think you have a choice, someone’s coming over here. I'll see you in a little bit." He walked over to the food and Safiya looked at the girl in front of her.

"Hi, I’m Rosanna. My friends call me Ro." The girl in front of her was quite a bit shorter than herself. She had auburn hair and brown eyes. She was cute.

"Hey Rosanna, I’m Safiya. My friends call me Saf." Safiya already knew who she was. She watched her channel quite religiously. 

"So, I came over to tell you that it was my gift you picked." Rosanna looked down at the ground.

"It’s really pretty. Why didn’t you say so in the first place."

"I don’t know. I just didn’t. So, I was wondering if you wanted to collab with me?"

"Are you kidding? Of course! I love your show." Safiya said. 

"Really? That’s so cool." 

"Let me give you my number so we can contact each other." Rosanna pulled out her phone and handed it to her. She put her contact in as Safiya Nygaard and handed it back.

"Text me whenever. I’m usually up pretty late doing some sort of odd video." Safiya looked Ro up and down. "Cute outfit." She winked and walked over to Tyler.

Rosanna walked back over to MatPat and Stephanie. 

"So how did it go?" Matt asked.

"Well, we're going to collab. She gave me her number. And I think she was flirting with me." Rosanna looked back over at Safiya and then back at Matt.

"What did she do?" Stephanie asked.

"She checked me out, said 'cute outfit', and then winked and walked away." Rosanna told them.

"She was definitely flirting." Matt said.

"Not necessarily, let me see her contact." Stephanie said. Rosanna pulled it up and showed her. "She’s sending you some mixed signals. She just put her full name in, she didn’t use any emojis or nicknames." 

"Well do you think you like her?" Matt asked.

"I don’t know, she seems nice, but I don’t really know her. We'll see after we collab." Rosanna had told Matt and Steph that she was Bi, and they were completely fine with it. "So when are you going to tell everybody about the baby?"

"Now seems like a good time." Matt grabbed an empty champagne glass and a spoon.

"You could just say hey can I have your attention." Rosanna suggested.

"I’m trying to be classy. Let me do my thing little sis." Matt said.

"I’m older than you." Rosanna rebutted. MatPat always called her little sis because she was about a foot shorter than him.

Matt stood up on a chair and tapped the glass. "Excuse me, may I have everyone's attention please?" He waited for everyone to quiet down. "So, a lot of you here might be wondering why the heck am I standing on a chair. And that’s fair. But I just thought that you guys should be the first to know, besides my sister Ro, that Stephanie and I, are having a baby!" Everyone was so shocked.

"You're joking." Manny called out. 

"Nope, I’m not kidding. And it's going to be a boy." Matt stepped down from the chair and people came up to congratulate him. Safiya, however, approached Rosanna. Stephanie saw this and decided to listen in on the conversation.

"So, you're Matt's sister? I didn’t know that." Safiya leaned against the countertop.

"Yeah. I’m the older sibling."

"But your last name is Pansino, and his is Patrick."

"I decided to take my mom's maiden name on YouTube. I didn’t want the whole association at first. But now I don’t mind it. I just didn’t want subscribers because I was related to someone who already established. But technically I’m Rosanna Patrick." Rosanna explained.

"That’s so cool."

"Yeah. My brother is the closest person I have." Rosanna took a sip of her drink. 

"You don’t have a boyfriend then?" Safiya asked. 

"No. I don’t have a girlfriend either." Rosanna replied. 

"So you're Bi?" Safiya looked Rosanna in the eyes

"Yeah, but that’s not exactly public knowledge. I keep my sexuality a secret on the internet."

"Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone." Safiya said with a wink.

"Are you straight?" Rosanna asked. Safiya let out a chuckle.

"No, Luckily for you, I'm Bi." Safiya smirked.

"Oh." Rosanna blushed. She didn’t know what to say. 'Luckily for me?'

"You're cute when you get flustered. Anyway, I should go back over to my friend, he's probably trying to find me. Let me know when we should collab." And with that she walked away. Stephanie walked over to Rosanna. 

"She's flirting with you." Stephanie stated in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Really? I had no clue." Rosanna said sarcastically.

"Well, she is pretty." Stephanie added. She was trying to get Rosanna to admit she might like her. 

"Yeah. She is. And I have to collab with her." Rosanna's eyes followed Safiya.

"I could come over to help you film that day. That way it won’t just be you, her, and whoever from your crew is there that day. You'll have some moral support." Stephanie gave her a hug from behind. Rosanna closed her eyes and melted into the hug. 

"Thanks Steph, I’ll make sure that it’s a day you can come over. I’m quite screwed, aren’t I?" Rosanna looked over at Safiya.

"Maybe, but maybe not."


	2. Texting: the Best Way to Not Embarrass Oneself

Rosanna was sitting on her bed with her calendar planning out the next month. She knew she had a few secret projects to do, including a music video, a third princess collab with Blogilates, and she had some promotional events for her Wilton line. She also had a red carpet event coming up. She wrote in a few other dates when she heard her phone go off. She grabbed it and saw that Stephanie had just texted her. 

Steph: Have you figured out when you’re collabing Safiya?

She knew she had to pencil it in, but she just had an uneasy feeling about. Maybe uneasy wasn’t right word. Nervous seemed better. 

Ro: No, I’m looking at my schedule right now, trying to figure out when it would be good. When are you free?

Steph: I’m free petty much every day except next Monday. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment for the baby. 

Ro: Ok. That’s perfect because I got something planned next Monday too. I’ll let you know what day when I text Safiya. 

Steph: You haven’t texted her yet??? Rosanna didn’t know if that would be a big deal. 

Ro: No. Is that bad? 

Steph: Yes! That girl was flirting with you. I’m pretty sure she’s expected a text by now. It’s been like 5 days! Rosanna didn’t want to believe that she was flirting. 

Ro: Oh. Well what do I tell her?

Steph: Just say “hey it’s Ro, I had a lot of fun talking to you. When are you free for a collab?” Or something like that. It seemed easy enough to do. 

Ro: Ok. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

Steph: Mk. Love you

Ro: Love you too

Rosanna pulled up Safiya’s contact and went to text her, but decided to change the name. Her full name seemed too formal, so she changed it to Saf. She texted a quick ‘hey it’s Rosanna’ and tossed her phone to the side. She grabbed her calendar again to double check the dates that she was free. She heard the ding and saw that Safiya had texted her back. 

Saf: Hey. Surprised it took you so long to text me. So was she waiting for Rosanna to text her?

Ro: I know. I’ve been pretty busy with a few things. I had fun talking to you at the party. She wanted to make a believable excuse. 

Saf: Me too. It was nice to get away from Tyler. Besides, I got to talk to a cute girl. Cute? Rosanna didn’t expect that. Maybe she was reading into things. Was Safiya flirting with her? It took her a moment to reply. 

Ro: So, when are you available to collab?

Saf: I’m free pretty much every day except for this Saturday. Tyler and I are filming a ‘mixing all my make up’ video. They take ages to do. 

Ro: That’s cool, how about a week from Wednesday?

Saf: That works. What time should I be over?

Ro: That depends, do you want to bake or do you want to do a challenge video? Rosanna wanted her to choose to bake, they’d have more time together to talk to each other. 

Saf: I’d rather bake. After all, you run a baking channel. 

Ro: Ok. Then come over sometime between 10 and 10:30

Saf: I’ll be there. Text me your address. 

Rosanna typed in her address and sent the text. Phone in hand, she got off the bed and went downstairs to make some dinner. She set her phone on the kitchen counter and got to work making some spaghetti. 

 

———————————————————

 

Safiya began to play with Crusty after she texted Rosanna. She heard a knock on the front door so she got up and opened it. Standing in the doorway was Tyler. 

“Dude, you have a key.” He was the only other person with a key to her house. After all, he’s her best friend. 

“I know, but it’s polite to knock.” He stepped inside where he was greeted by Crusty rubbing himself on Tyler’s legs. “Hi Crusty.” He said in his baby voice. He reached down and gave him a quick scratch. 

“So what’s up?” Safiya asked. They headed to the kitchen. She poured to cups of water and handed one to him and took a sip of her own. 

“Have you heard from Rosanna yet?” He asked. 

“Yeah, actually. She texted me just before you arrived. We’re going to collab next Wednesday.”

“Took her long enough to reply.” Tyler opened the fridge and took out his leftover Korean Barbecue. 

“She said she was busy. Besides, at least she did talk to me.” Safiya looked down at her glass of water. She knew Tyler was right. Five days was a long time. She thought they had hit it off. 

“So what are you going to do for the collab?” Tyler asked, putting his food in the microwave. 

“We’re baking something for her channel.” Safiya said. She had no idea what they were baking, but it was sure to be good. 

“And for your channel?” Tyler asked. She hadn’t even thought about that. 

“I didn’t ask her for anything on my channel. What do you think we should do?”

“You could to a blindfolded outfit challenge. Or you could do a decades video with her. She could join you do a day or two.”

“I like the decades thing. We haven’t done 1957 yet.”

“Well text her and ask. Also, do you want to go to play laser tag on Sunday?” Tyler asked. 

“Yeah sure. Sunday works. I’ve just got stuff to do tomorrow.” Safiya grabbed her phone. 

 

Saf: Hey, so I was wondering if we could collab on my channel too. 

Rosanna’s reply was almost immediate. 

Ro: Yeah of course. What do you have in mind. 

Saf: Do you want to do a decades video with me?

Ro: That’s the series where you dress up in certain decades right?

Saf: Yeah. We would be doing 1957. 

Ro: I’d love to. What do I need to do?

Saf: I just need your size for the clothes. 

Ro: Ok. Give me a second.

“Saf, you should invite her to come with us to play laser tag. Oh, and her brother and sister-in-law. That way it wouldn’t be too awkward.” Tyler suggested. It actually seemed like a really good idea. Her phone dinged again with Rosanna’s response. 

Ro: pants: kids size 12, shirt, adult small or kids large, skirt: 00, dress 00. Hope that helps. 

Saf: kids size 12???

Ro: Don’t judge, I’m really short. 

Saf: ok. Btw, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and Tyler on Sunday to play laser tag. MatPat and Stephanie are also invited. 

Ro: That sounds so fun! I’ll see if they can come but I definitely will. I've never really played laser tag before.

Safiya: Cool. I'll text you the address of the place. 

Ro: Yeah. Text me the address. 

Safiya typed in the address and a time, and put her phone down. She was so excited to see Rosanna again. 

“Ro said she’s going to come, she just has to ask MatPat and Stephanie.” She told Tyler. 

 

———————————————————

 

Rosanna decided to call Stephanie this time, since there was a lot to talk about. 

“Hey Ro, what’s going on?”

“So I texted her, and we’re collabing the week after Wednesday.”

“Ok. I’ll put it in my calendar. You know you could have just texted me that.” Stephanie said. 

“I know, but I have to ask you something else.” Rosanna pulled out some dog food for Cookie. 

“Oh, what’s up?” Rosanna called for Cookie and fed her dog. 

“I was wondering if you and Matthew wanted to go play laser tag with me on Sunday.”

“That’s in two days.”

“I know,” Rosanna said as she walked upstairs to her bedroom. “I just got invited as well as you and Matt.”

“By who?” Rosanna could here Jason and Chris, Matt’s employees, in the background. 

“Safiya.”

“I don’t think we should go then."

“Why not?” Rosanna got into her pajamas. She put Stephanie on speaker phone and started braiding her hair. 

“Because she clearly meant it as a date. She was probably just inviting us to be polite.”

“No she didn’t. Tyler’s going too.”

“Oh, then let me ask Chris if we have anything planned.” Rosanna heard Steph talk to Chris for a few moments before she came back to the phone. “We don’t have anything so it’s good. Matthew and I will be there.”

“Ok. That's great!"

“What time do you plan on getting there?”

“A little before 10."

“Ok. I’ll see you there.”

“Also, one last thing.” Rosanna was kinda worried.

“Yeah?” Stephanie asked. 

“Are you by yourself?”

“No but I can be, give me a second.” She heard Stephanie walk around a bit and then close a door. “I am now. Does this ‘thing’ have to do with Safiya?” 

“Yeah. I don’t want to read into things. Do you think she’s into me?”

“I don’t know her so I can’t tell you. But what actually matters is if you are into her. Are you?”

“I don’t know.” Rosanna was thinking about it ever since that stupid Christmas party. Was she into Safiya? Now that she knew Safiya she decided to watch her videos and her online personality was quite captivating. She seemed really nice, smart, and to be honest, she was really pretty.

“Ok. Well, I guess you just have to think about that. Maybe Sunday will help. I gotta go, Matt just finished recording so we’re going to head out to dinner. Love you!”

“Love you too! Bye.” She hung up. Rosanna knew Matt had a weird recording schedule, but this was later than usually. Maybe he was recording a lot because of some big project. She didn’t know. She decided to text Safiya just to talk. If she wanted to be friends, or even something more, it made sense to talk about stuff other than work. 

Saf: Can't get enough of me Ro?

Ro: Lol, I just thought it would be nice to talk about things besides work. Like, what are you doing right now?

Saf: I’m just in bed. Tyler was over about a half an hour ago. Thought I’d check and respond to my emails.

Ro: Oh. Fun? I’m laying in bed too.

Saf: Not fun, more like necessary. What are you up to.

Ro: I’m watching some Netflix and texting you. 

Saf: Cool. Whatcha watching?

Ro: Just some of Haters Back Off. It's Colleen's series. 

Saf: Oh yeah. I’ve been meaning to watch it, I’ve just never had the chance. 

Ro: If it wasn’t so late, I would totally invite you over.

Saf: It's only 7:30. Can I come over?

Ro: How far away are you from my house?

Saf: Google Maps says it's only 25 minutes.

Ro: You should come over then. 

Saf: Ok, I’ll be over in like 25 minutes then. I'll be in pajamas though. I don’t feel like changing.

Ro: Don’t worry, I will be too.

 

———————————————————

 

Rosanna was tidying her room really quickly. She had a few friends for Christmas and her room was kind of a mess. Safiya coming over was making her nervous. After all, she didn’t know how Safiya was going to be without people around. 

She heard a knock on her door and ran down the stairs. Her anxiety was getting the best of her when she got closer to the door. She could really screw things up. She opened the door with Cookie at her feet. Safiya was wearing a black hoodie and some pajama shorts. She didn’t have any makeup on and her hair was pulled into a side ponytail. She looked, breathtaking.

"Hi." That's all she could say. 

"Hi. So this is Cookie?" She kneeled down and gave her a good scratch. 

"Yeah, c'mon in." Safiya stepped inside and put her keys on the counter top. She took her shoes off and walked next to Rosanna. 

"You've got a nice house." Safiya said.

"Do you want a tour?" Rosanna asked.

"Um, yeah sure." Safiya replied. They went around the ground level, Rosanna showing her the kitchen, living room, and office and then they went upstairs. Rosanna opened the door to her bedroom.

"So, this is my room, the bathroom is the door on the right. I was thinking we could just watch some Hater's Back Off." Rosanna said and plopped onto her bed. 

"Sounds good." Safiya got the bed next to her. Rosanna turned on the TV and put Hater's Back Off on.

"I’m gonna get some popcorn. I'll be right back." Rosanna said. Rosanna got up and left the room.

Safiya got up and looked around Rosanna's room, there were pictures on her dresser of her family and close friends, most of them were YouTubers. There were a few people she didn’t recognize though, she assumed they were cousins or something. She went back to the bed with Cookie and was playing with her when Rosanna came back in with a bowl of popcorn.

"Cookie seems to like you." Rosanna sat on the bed and placed it in between her and Safiya. 

"Yeah, she's really nice." Safiya leaned back and Cookie moved into her lap. She laughed a little and grabbed some popcorn.

"I hope you like the show. I enjoy it, but it might not be everybody's cup of tea."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see." Rosanna pressed play and put the remote on the bedside table.

 

Rosanna and Safiya had gone through a few episodes when their hands had accidentally brushed in the bowl. Their hands lingered for a little. Rosanna didn’t know what to do. She felt Safiya's hand run over her own with her nails. Rosanna sucked in a breath, and slowly pulled her hand back. She looked over at Safiya, trying to find any sort of emotion on her face, and she seemed fine. She was watching the episode and didn’t seem to realize what she was doing. Rosanna looked back at the tv and tried to forget about it. 

Safiya knew exactly what she was doing. How do you flirt silently? It's all through subtle touches, like grazing her fingers over Ro's hand. And yes, she was flirting. Maybe Ro wasn’t interested, but so far, there hasn’t been any indicators of her not being interested. 

They finished the first season and Rosanna was getting tired. They'd eaten all of the popcorn so she got up and took the bowl down stairs. She let Cookie out one more time and went back upstairs. She got back on the bed. There was quite a bit of space in between the two girls. But they kept subtly moving closer, with Rosanna adjusting herself every now and again and Safiya doing the same. By the time they were finished with the second episode, their legs were touching. Rosanna leaned her head on Safiya's shoulder and Safiya ran her fingers up and down Rosanna's forearm. It was a comforting gesture. 

"Safiya, it's pretty late." Rosanna whispered. Safiya's hand stopped moving. 

"What time is it?" Safiya asked.

"It's like midnight." Rosanna said, looking at her phone.

"Oh. I should get going." Safiya said. She moved to get up.

"You could just stay the night." Rosanna offered. Maybe it was overstepping, but Rosanna was have a good time.

"Had it been any other day, I would. But tomorrow I have to start a video really early in the morning." Safiya got up and went downstairs, Rosanna following. She pulled on her shoes and grabbed her keys.

"I had a good time." Rosanna said.

"Yeah, me too. It was fun hanging out with you. I'll see you Sunday for laser tag." Safiya said. She opened the door and gave Rosanna a once over. Safiya gave her a hug and left.

Rosanna went back upstairs and got under the covers. She was excited for Sunday.


	3. Laser Labyrinth

To say Rosanna was nervous would be an understatement. She was not only nervous, but excited and anxious and stressed as well. It might just be laser tag, but Rosanna’s never been good at laser tag, and she doesn’t want to make a fool of herself. Plus, Safiya’s there. She didn’t know how she felt towards Safiya, but it could go horribly wrong. 

Safiya had texted her the address to the place a few hours ago. It was 9:45 by the time she reached the place. It was inside the mall. Standing outside the entrance was Tyler and Safiya. They were in a deep conversation when Rosanna had reached them. 

“Hey!” Rosanna said. 

“Hey!” Safiya replies and pull Rosanna into a hug that last a little longer than it should have. 

“So why’d you choose such a late time? It’s like two hours til midnight.” Rosanna asked. 

“We had a few things to do and plus, there will be less kids and more adults the later it gets.” Tyler replied. 

“That’s smart. Steph and MatPat are on their way, though Steph might not play since she’s pregnant. It just depends on how she’s feeling.”

“Ok. Have you been here before?” Safiya asked. 

“No. I’ve only played laser tag once before today.”

“We should get you signed up then. You have to sign a waiver before you play.” Safiya took Rosanna’s hand and led her over to the front desk where there were a few people already in line. Tyler stayed out of the building to wait for MatPat and Stephanie. 

“So what do you have planned for our collab?” Rosanna asked. 

“Well, I already found a polka dot dress for you and me. There are also those skirts with the little dog on the side that I found and was going to pair with the other items from that look, and then I figured we could both wear a ‘day dress’. And it does sound like a lot of dresses, but women didn’t really wear pants.” Safiya explained. The line had grown a lot shorter and they were next. 

“That sounds so fun. I’m excited to do that video.” Rosanna responded with genuine joy.

“What are we doing on your channel?”Safiya asked. It was their turn at the front desk. Matthew, Stephanie, and Tyler came in and joined them. 

“I’ll tell you in a bit.” Rosanna replied. The three of them signed the waiver as then paid for the day. Tyler and Safiya has already paid so they showed their wrist bands and went in with them. The laser tag place, Laser Labyrinth, was part arcade, part laser tag, with a snack bar. The arcade was lit by black light. There were games everywhere and tables with adults eating nachos and fries. Over to the right was the laser tag part of the place. It was separated by a black curtain. They approached the laser tag arena when Mat brought up a good question.

"So who's going to be on which team?"

"Why don’t we do you, Steph, and Rosanna on one team, and me and Tyler on the other?" Safiya suggested. 

"I think I’m going to sit the first round out, actually. I’m feeling a bit queasy. I’m hoping it’ll go away by the time you guys are done." Stephanie replied.

"Ok. That’s fine. Just pick out a table and we'll come meet you when we're done." Tyler said. Stephanie walked away and the two pairs went into the separate rooms, one for the red team and one for the blue team.

 

Rosanna and Matt were on one side of the arena, the blue side. The round they were playing was capture the flag. Each team has to collect enemy flags. If you got shot while holding one, you drop it where you were shot, and then you go back to home base to revive yourself. First team to three flags wins. Rosanna and Matt's strategy was simple, work with the other people and try not to get in the way. They waited for the buzzer to begin.

 

Safiya and Tyler were pumped for the round of Capture the Flag. They knew all of the best places to look, but the other people on their team looked like newbies. They were admiring the black light's effect on the room. They might not stand a chance. The buzzer went off and Safiya and Tyler split up. Safiya went to the right and hoped for the best. 

 

—————————————————-

 

The game had gone on for quite a while. Each team had two flags, but they couldn’t seem to find the last one. Rosanna was tying her shoe by the wall when she heard someone approach so she quickly picked up her gun and aimed. The person happened to be Safiya, so she rose her hands in the air and pointed to her shoes. She placed the gun on the floor and finished up. Safiya had still been standing there.

"Having fun?" Safiya asked. She lowered the gun to her side.

"Yeah, I just wish I could find that stupid flag. It's so hard." Rosanna stood up and leaned against the wall, gun in hand. 

"I know. The staff hid them well this round." Safiya took a step closer. 

"Hey, are you going to try and shoot me?" Rosanna asked.

"Maybe. Haven’t decided yet. You're lucky you're cute or I would've shot you already." Safiya said. Rosanna had never been more thankful for the lighting or she would’ve looked bright red from blushing so hard. 

"You think I’m cute?" Rosanna finally mustered the courage to ask. Safiya took another step closer. They were inches apart from each other. Rosanna looked up at Safiya. She could feel Safiya's breath, a shiver ran down her spine. Her heart was racing with anticipation. 

"Maybe I do. But you're a lot more than just cute." Safiya looked down at Rosanna and leaned in, pressing her lips to Rosanna's and placed a hand on her hip. Rosanna froze, unsure of what to do. Safiya pulled back a little, shot her, and ran off. 

"What the heck just happened?" Rosanna whispered and started to walk back to base. 

Matthew came running by after Rosanna reached the base to revive herself. 

"I found it!" He shouted and place in their container. 

"Congratulations Blue team. You win! Return to your loading stations to return the gear." A voice over the intercoms said. Rosanna was still so shocked from what had occurred that the next few minutes were a blurry haze. She only seemed to come back to reality when Stephanie started talking to her.

"Rosanna?" Stephanie waved a hand in front of the girl's face."

"Yeah? Sorry, what's up?" Rosanna asked and turned toward her. She noticed that the others were missing, probably off in the arcade. 

"What's going on with you? You're so quiet and you didn’t want any of my fries, which is really weird because these fries are delicious." Stephanie said. Recently she'd been craving French fries, os any fry tasted amazing. 

"She kissed me." Rosanna murmured.

"What did you say?" Stephanie asked. 

"Nothing. I’m just tired, that's all." Rosanna lied. She didn’t want to talk about it just yet. She needed more time to process, to think, to figure out what she was going to do.

"If you say so. Matt said they were going to play air hockey if you wanted to join them." Stephanie added, giving Rosanna a suspicious look. 

"Thanks. You should come too." Rosanna said, grabbing her hand and taking Stephanie with her. They reached the air hockey table to find Matthew and a Tyler in an intense battle of 6 to 6. Safiya was standing on the side, watching. Rosanna stood next to her feeling everything and nothing at the same time. And Safiya? It looked like she didn’t even know it happened. She didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything in reference to what happened. Nothing. And it was kind of annoying. But Rosanna didn’t pursue it. 

 

—————————————————————

 

By the time Rosanna got home, it was around 11:30 at night. She had such a good time, even if it was confusing at the same time. She headed up stairs to take a quick shower. She was sweaty from the running around and she didn’t want to go to bed feeling gross. She brushed her teeth, braided her hair, and put on some comfy pyjamas. She plugged in her phone to charge and laid in bed with a book called Because You'll Never Meet Me. She turned on the TV to let YouTube run in the background. She wanted to catch up on important news so she turned on the Philip DeFranco show. She heard a ding and picked up her phone. 

Saf: Hey. 

That was it? Just hey? Nothing about the kiss? She was probably going to ask her directly about it. 

Ro: Hi. I had fun tonight. 

She didn’t want to confront her yet. She still wanted to give a Safiya a chance to bring it up.

Saf: Yeah. Me too. Stephanie and Matthew are really great.

Not exactly what she was looking for, but Safiya was getting closer. 'Why do I care so much about this?' She thought to herself. Nobody cares that much if it didn’t mean anything.

Ro: I know. But growing up with him was a nightmare. 

She just wanted to make small talk now. Rosanna was beyond confused. She had felt the spark during their kiss. Albeit a short kiss, it was electrifying. Did she like Safiya? She didn’t know, but she did want to find out. 

Saf: Really?

Ro: No. He was quite the studious person. He never did anything wrong. Anyway, I’m going to bed. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow.

Saf: Ok. I’ll see you for our collab then? 

That's 10 days from now. It seemed like a long time. But hopefully time will fly. After all, she still has to perfect the recipe they're going to use. 

Ro: Yeah totally. Goodnight :)

Saf: Goodnight ;)

Rosanna saw the texting bubbles pop up again, but then they disappeared after a minute. Now Rosanna wanted to know what Safiya was going to send. Maybe it was about the kiss. She didn’t know. She just couldn’t wait for next Wednesday. She had decided that she was going to do a 50's inspired cake based on the poodle skirts that were always around. It'll make for one interesting video, and that kiss is going to make it a very interesting couple of days, since the decades video takes multiple.


	4. Author's note

Hey guys, so for right now, I’m putting this story on hold until I finish the Long Term Patients story. With all of the school work I have, it's best to work on one at a time. So for now, this story is going on a hiatus. 

 

I will be coming back to this story however. 

Thanks for your patience.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is subject to change.
> 
> Thanks for reading this story. Hope you enjoy it! I plan on updating every Thursday (ish)


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